Introduction
by fizzingwhizbees7
Summary: Jinoochy. Skoochy ends up helping out a certain airbender girl one late night in Republic City. My take on how they meet.


**Hello there! So I know Jinoochy is nowhere near canon - Jinora and Skoochy haven't even ****_met_**** - but I fell in love with this ship the moment I saw some fanart on Tumblr. I just had to write a fanfic. So here you go! Enjoy, and review if you'd like :)**

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><p>Skoochy sat on the fire escape to one of apartment buildings in Republic City. It was twilight, the sky a deep purple color and a few stars starting to twinkle above his head. He swung his legs back and forth as he stared up at them. From below him, Skoochy could hear citizens walking home to turn in for the night, a quiet hum of voices filling the air. Republic City was always at its most peaceful at night. Skoochy didn't really mind not having a roof over his head on clear nights like these, nights where he could count the stars and think. This night began in a way that was no different from any other night Skoochy had spent on the streets. But that was soon to change.<p>

After about another hour, the streets were silent and all around the lights in buildings were flickering off, leaving only the street lamps and the moon to light up the city. Skoochy stood up and stretched, his long arms above his head. When he exhaled and allowed them to fall to his sides again, he grinned. He had grown into a handsome boy of seventeen, his body tall and leanly muscular, and his brown hair still shaggy, but it suited him somehow. He fixed his hat atop his head and then began to run back down the fire escape, his feet taking two stairs at a time. When he reached the bottom, he quickly sped off into the night, letting his laughter fill the quiet air. At night, Republic City was his domain, and his alone, and if anyone was to disturb the tranquility he would personally give them a piece of his mind. Skoochy found himself at an empty street vendor's cart, and, thanking the spirits, he found a few slightly warm dumplings still sitting atop, as if the vendor had expected him. He ate them quickly, finding that he really wasn't that hungry, but he needed to eat in case he couldn't find any food the next morning. As he shoved his hands in his tattered pants pockets, swaggering down the street again, a smirk playing at his lips, he heard the voices. The gruff voices of grown men.

Skoochy had rather exceptional hearing skills, so he followed the sound of the voices down an alleyway which was dark and cluttered with over flowing trash cans. He squinted his eyes in the darkness, wishing he was a firebender so he might be able to produce a light. Taking a few quiet steps closer, he noticed two figures before him, one big and broad-shouldered, the other small and slender. Suddenly, the big man lit a small ball of fire in his right hand, so Skoochy was able to see the scene. The men were grimy and mean looking, with scars and what not about their bodies. They seemed quite gleeful at the moment, leering down at their prey. Skoochy's eyes fell on the girl standing before them, a girl with blue arrow tattoo on her head. He recognized her as the eldest airbender child of Councilman Tenzin's, and she was beautiful. Her brown hair reached her shoulders exactly, her eyes big and brown. Her body was petite, and looked as light as a feather, and she definitely wasn't a little girl anymore, for feminine curves were showing through her gold and orange airbender clothes. The airbender tattoos only added to her beauty, the light blue color on her otherwise milky skin standing out. Her name escaped him at the moment, but he knew it would come to him eventually. Skoochy could've stared at her forever, but he realized something was wrong with the image. The girl was pressed against the brick alleyway wall behind her, her face screwed up in terror. Skoochy could see the fright in her brown eyes, and he felt his blood boil in anger.

"Well, aren't you a beauty," the firebender man said lowly, his sleazy voice sending a shiver up Skoochy's spine. The earthbender quickly ducked behind a trash can, so he could watch the spectacle and not be seen. The other man guffawed loudly.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing out so late? Isn't Daddy going to have a fit that his daughter was roaming the streets alone?"

"For your information," the airbender girl said as loudly as she could, her soft voice echoing of the alleyway walls. "I was looking for a book I had left in the park today, and was about to go home before you two idiots cornered me."

The firebender gave a wolf-whistle. "Feisty, are we? Surprising, for an airbender." He approached the girl slowly, and then crouched down to her level when he reached her. Skoochy shifted his position so he could see better. "How old are you, sweetheart?"

"Fifteen," she said hotly, turning her head away from the man, her bottom lip quivering.

"You're much too young to be out alone. I think my friend Kyou and I need to teach you a lesson for being such a bad girl, don't you agree, Kyou?"

"Of course, Shigeo," the man called Kyou replied, cracking his knuckles. "I'm really going to enjoy this gal. I bet this'll be her first time too. She seems like the innocent type. "

"You wouldn't dare do anything to me," the airbender girl hissed, her tone frightened, and she trying to flatten herself even more against the wall, but it proved impossible. "Get away from me."

"You're an airebender, aint'cha?" Shigeo asked menacingly, and Skoochy nearly lost it when he saw the man grab the girl by her chin and force her to look at him. He put the ball of fire still burning in his other hand in front of her face, giving her an orangey glow. "Why don't you make me?"

The girl whimpered, and she seemed frozen, and Skoochy decided that it was time for him to step in. Stepping out from behind the trash can, he said evenly, "I believe the lady asked you to go away."

Both Shigeo and Kyou turned to look at him, Shigeo standing up and stepping away from the airbender. She didn't move an inch, her eyes widening with surprise as she glanced at Skoochy. Kyou laughed.

"Would ya look here, Shigeo? This street rat's trying to stop us!"

"Oh no, good sir, I'm not _trying_ to stop you," Skoochy said evenly taking a step forward with his hands clasped behind his back. "I'm _going_ to stop you."

Shigeo narrowed his eyes, and the bright ball of flames in his hand flared. "You just messed with the wrong bender, boy." With a roar of anger, Shigeo sent a blast of fire directly at Skoochy's face. But before it had time to singe even Skoochy's eyebrows off, the boy had bended an earth wall in front of him. He heard the airbender girl gasp. Skoochy punched the center of the wall, and a large piece of rock shot out and hit Shigeo in the head. Shigeo groaned in pain and crumpled to the ground, blood pouring out of his nose, the moon acting as a spotlight on the heap of a man. Skoochy wiped the dust from the earth on his pants and moved out from behind the wall, raising an eyebrow at Kyou. "Your turn."

Kyou narrowed his beady eyes at him. His eyes flickered to the girl watching the fight. "Sorry, street rat you're going to have to wait until the little girl and I have some fun, right, sweetheart?"

The airbender girl took a deep breath, clenching her fists. "I told you to get away from me," she said, her voice dead calm. Kyou raised an eyebrow at her. "But you didn't listen." Before Kyou could respond, he found himself being blasted out of the alley by a large gust of air. He hit the ground with a sickening crack and tried to get up again, snarling at her.

"Big mistake, girly."

Skoochy moved quickly; he stomped his bare foot down into the ground, and Kyou was sent flying up into the air by a large earth chunk that had shot out of the ground beneath him. This time, when he fell back to the ground, he didn't move, having been knocked unconscious. Skoochy and the girl were both breathing heavily. Without thinking, Skoochy grabbed her small warm hand and began to drag her out of the alleyway, saying that they needed to get out of there before the men got up again. They ran out down the street and Skoochy brought her to building with the fire escape. They stood under the awning, an awkward silence between the two of them. Skoochy cleared his throat, taking off his hat and running a hand through his mangled hair. "Are you all right, miss?"

"I'm fine, thank you," the airbender said politely. She snuck a glance at Skoochy then turned her gaze to her feet. Skoochy sighed with relief.

"Good. I thought they had hurt you." Then his voice turned stern. "Why the hell were you out this late by yourself anyway? You really could've gotten hurt."

The girl rolled her eyes. "And I'm probably going to hear the same speech from my father when I go back to Air Temple Island and I'll be grounded for a month. I am _perfectly_ capable of taking care of myself."

Skoochy snorted. "Doll, you were nearly vandalized by a pair of sleazy men, and you looked like you were about to throw up, not save yourself."

The girl narrowed her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. "No one asked you to play hero. Besides, I'm an airbending master, I was going to get out of there, I was just…frozen in the moment."

"Right," Skoochy said. The silence came between them again, and Skoochy could see the girls shadowed form shift slightly in the dark.

"Thank you, anyways," she whispered quietly. "That was very gallant of you."

"Anything for a pretty girl," he said with a charming smile, and he saw her flash him a small smile that made his cheeks heat up. "Let me walk you to the dock. I assume you somehow took the ferry this late?"

The girl shook her head. "I took my glider. I left it at the dock, though, and I'm not quite sure how to get back there, so it would be wonderful if you could walk me there."

Skoochy offered his arm, and the airbender wrapped her fingers around his bicep. They began to walk towards the docks. "The name's Skoochy, by the way, in case you ever, you know, want to come back and visit the knight in shining armor who saved you. But during the day time, mind you. I don't want you to come to any trouble again."

The girl laughed and looked up at him, and in the moonlight he could see her face soften as she studied his own face. "I'm Jinora. And I'd love to see you again, Skoochy."

For the rest of the night, even after he watch Jinora's dark form fly off into the night on her glider, heading back towards her home on Air Temple Island, Skoochy was rather giddy and couldn't sleep, for thoughts of a certain Miss Jinora. True, it wasn't much of an introduction, but it was enough to start a fire in Skoochy's young heart.


End file.
